It’s that stressful time of year again for high school seniors: application season! I still vividly remember applying to schools — where I was accepted, where I was rejected, where I toured… the list goes on and on.

I went to a high school where going to college was more of an expectation rather than a privilege. From the second you walked in as a freshman, you were told to start thinking about your future college career. As a vulnerable 14-year-old, I had no idea what I wanted in college. Truthfully, I had no idea what I was looking for until I was a senior and actually had to apply, but that's a whole other story. In essence, applying to college was a huge deal where I lived. So, here was my college process in a nutshell.

How Many Tours is Enough?

Starting in my junior year, I went on way too many college tours. Twenty-five, to be exact. Although this helped to give me a very specific sense of what I liked (and didn’t like) for college, if I learned anything from these tours it was that twenty-five is an absurd amount of visits. A word of advice — don’t tour twenty-five schools. Obviously the college process is different for everybody, but I would suggest visiting around 10-15 campuses. The visits get redundant, and you only need to see a few before you know what you’re looking for. Do your research about what a school has to offer before planning a trip to see it!

Application Time

I applied to twelve schools, so around half of the schools I visited. Filling out applications for twelve schools was a hassle and ultimately not needed. I recommend you apply to six to eight colleges tops, but again, it really depends on the person. For me, I applied to some random schools — some of which I could never see myself attending — which is why I think twelve was way too many. However, if you have a lot of schools at which you could see yourself, definitely apply to all of them. This just wasn’t the case for me, and I could have saved money on college applications if I cut down on my shortlist a little more.

Having Fun During the Process

In retrospect, I made my own college decision process unnecessarily stressful. I spent countless nights crying over my fear of not getting accepted anywhere, and while some schools did reject me, this generally was not something to cry about. It sounds cheesy, but what they say is true: you end up where you’re meant to be. My advice is to be open-minded about where you apply. Create a dream school in your head (based on geographic location, size, tuition, the programs offered, etc.) and go from there. Lastly, do a lot of research! This is probably where I lacked the most. I spent so much time applying and touring campuses I didn’t even know much about. Looking back at it, I would have saved a lot of time, money, and effort if I just did a little research about a college before going to see it/applying to it. All in all, the college process should be fun. You’re figuring out where you will call home for four whole years. That’s a huge deal! Don’t let it degrade your self-esteem, and definitely don’t spend nights crying about it. It’s supposed to be exciting!

Of all the colleges I considered — and there were many — I can without a doubt say committing to UMass Amherst was the best decision of my life. No other college, in my opinion, shares the same charisma and values. Although a large campus, I’ve never felt lost or unimportant here, and I’m privileged to have met such amazing people (both faculty and students). The college process for me, like anyone, was stressful, but ultimately so rewarding. I wouldn’t trade my time thus far at the University of Massacusetts for anything.